Jiří Havelka
Theatre Director · Playwright · Film Director · Actor · Educator
Artistic Director of Dejvické divadlo (since 2025)
Jiří Havelka is one of the leading European theatre-makers of his generation. Working across theatre and film, he has developed a distinctive artistic language based on ensemble creation, structural precision and the dramaturgy of simulation. His work consistently examines how individuals function within collective systems — institutions, committees, political structures and communities — exposing the fragile mechanisms through which authority, responsibility and ideology are produced.
Simulation, Re-enactment & Social Laboratories
A defining principle of Havelka’s work is simulation as dramaturgical architecture. Rather than staging psychological realism, he constructs performances as controlled social laboratories: precisely framed collective situations that reveal behavioural patterns, institutional language and power structures.
Many projects function as micro-societal models. Owners (Vlastníci, stage version 2017; film 2019) operates as a rigorously structured simulation of a homeowners’ association meeting, dissecting democratic procedure and civic paralysis. Emergency Situation (2022) transfers this principle to cinema, placing passengers inside a train without a driver — a closed system under escalating stress.
His rehearsal methodology mirrors this logic: collective improvisation within strict formal rules, repetition of procedural patterns and progressive condensation of spontaneous material into precise dramaturgical form. The result resembles a live sociological experiment — comic in surface effect, analytically exact in structure.
Documentary & Verbatim Practice
Havelka’s long-term engagement with documentary material places him among the key figures of contemporary Central European documentary theatre. His work draws on archival documents, court records, interviews, media sources and direct testimony — not as illustrative reference, but as a dramaturgical and ethical framework.
In productions such as Já, hrdina (2011), Vražda krále Gonzaga (2017), Elity (2018), Sametová simulace (2019), Vykouření (2023) and Facka (2025), documentary material undergoes rigorous dramaturgical composition while maintaining transparency of interpretation. Rather than claiming access to objective truth, these works foreground the idea of performed truthfulness — acknowledging perspective, authorship and epistemic responsibility.
Central to this practice is an awareness of ethical tension: representation of real individuals, power asymmetry between creators and sources, editorial selection and the limits of aestheticisation. Instead of concealing these dilemmas, Havelka frequently integrates them into the structure of the performance itself, positioning the audience as an active participant in the verification and questioning of meaning.
Institutions & Selected Productions
VOSTO5 (co-founder since 2003)
• Pérák – Na jméně nezáleží. Rozhodují činy (2011)
• Dechovka (Brass Band) (2013) – Theatre News Award (Alternative Theatre category)
• Stand’art Cabaret – ongoing improvisational format
Dejvické divadlo
• Černá díra (2007)
• Vražda krále Gonzaga (The Murder of Gonzago) (2017)
• Facka (The Slap) (2025)
Slovak National Theatre (Bratislava)
• Elity (2018)
• Dnes večer nehráme (2019)
National Theatre, Prague
• Experiment myší ráj (2016)
• Plukovník Švec (2018)
• Očitý svědek (Eyewitness) (2021)
Divadlo Na zábradlí
• Ubu se baví (2010)
• The Seagull (Racek) (2024)
Cinema
Havelka has translated his theatrical methodology into cinema with unusual consistency, retaining his focus on confined systems and collective dynamics.
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Owners (Vlastníci, 2019) – Director & Screenwriter; 12 Czech Lion nominations; Winner – Best Screenplay.
Emergency Situation (Mimořádná událost, 2022) – Director.
The Gardener’s Year (Zahradníkův rok, 2024) – Director.
His films have received the Czech Lion Awards (Czech national film awards), Czech Film Critics’ Awards and the Trilobit Award.
Major Awards & International Recognition
Alfréd Radok Award – Talent of the Year (2007)
Theatre News Awards – multiple categories (Alternative, Puppet, Movement Theatre)
Václav Benda Award (2016)
Marek Ravenhill Award (2017)
Rudolf Medek Award (2021)
Korekce (2014) – Herald Angel Award, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
The Last Trick of Georges Méliès (2013) – Award at the International Festival of Puppet Theatre, Toruń
Artistic Position
Ensemble-based authorship · Simulation as dramaturgical method · Documentary transparency · Structural precision · Humour as analytical instrument · Critical examination of institutional systems